TV88

Hi everyone. I'm new to the P5 world, picking mine up tomorrow morning. I've done some research and searched the forums but can't find an answer to this question.

It seems that you can buy Kenwood replacement speakers from a dealer for the front, but NOT for the rear. I was told that rear speakers from a Protege sedan (Mazdaspeed maybe?) will fit the rear of a P5, but only if the P5 was produced prior to March '03.

I am thinking that with the introduction of the subwoofer on '03.5s that maybe the size of the rear speakers changed. Ideally, I'd like to just buy a set of Kenwoods online from a Mazda dealer, but I really would like to know which ones will fit my new P5.

Help, please!!!

jaredspangler

Here you go. My wife has an '03.5 P5 with the subwoofer mounted in the spare tire. However, the speaker that the dealership offers are the speakers that came in the original MP3. The sedan always has taken a 6x9 in the rear deck. The P5 has no rear deck, so Mazda stuck 5 1/4" coaxials in the rear doors (They have been the same sized speaker since the P5 has been produced). They have no bass and provide no imaging whatsoever. Sitting in the back seat, you strain to even hear the music. They attempted to cure the bass problem with the subwoofer, but imaging for your rear seat passengers will be horrible.

So to sum it up, you can put the 6x8's in the front, but you will have to find some 5 1/4 in the back, not the 6x9's from the sedan. I have heard of one of our members, who has done a modification (some clever cutting), and installed 6 1/2's in the rear doors of a P5.

I hope that answers your question!

TV88

Thanks alot for the input. Jared, just to be clear, the MP3 speakers WON'T fit the rear doors of an '03.5 P5? If that's the case, have you found a suitable replacement for the rear speakers in your wife's car?

A bit off topic, but my dealer also told me that I could not use their cargo tray b/c I have the subwoofer. It looks like it should fit, since the sub is in the spare. I wonder if they are recommending against it b/c it'd muffle the sound???

jaredspangler

No, the MP3 speakers will not fit in the rear doors of your P5. What I would suggest (I personally like keeping things stock looking, yet GREAT sounding) is to find a high quality 5 1/4" component set from a reputable company and install it in the rear door.
Now some will disagree with me, saying that will mess up the imaging that they are trying to achieve (for front seat passengers only) but I like to let all my passengers enjoy the music.
To me, it looks like the cargo tray would fit just fine, but the vibration of the plastic would probably cause an issue. that is probably the reason it is not "officially reccomended" by Mazda. Some sound deadning on the underside should do the trick.

Glad I could help you out.

Sir Nuke

okay....

The speakers that came in the newer P5's that have coaxial speakers in the rear doors may be 5 1/4"...but that is NOT the size of the speakers put there all along.....as I have not seen the newer P5's speakers that are coaxial.....I have seen all previous versions and the acutal speakers that come in the rear doors of the P5 which are not coaxial are in FACT.... 6 inch....and yes, if you slightly modify the rain guards you can reuse them and you can put the 6 1/2 inch speakers in there....with NO MODIFICATIONS to the doors....certainly no cutting, I know...I did it..


the ONLY thing odd at all is the rear door speakers that came in the car have a THREE POINT mounting .... or three holes in the speaker frame and most aftermarket speakers have FOUR.....you can do one of two things.....either drill new holes in the frame of the speakers you chose to match the stock screw locations....OR drill new mounting holes in the door.

jaredspangler

I stand corrected. Thanks, Sir Nuke

douggie

jaredspangler is right on. But I think the key point missing there is that you shouldn't spent too much on the rear speakers (for the P5). It's just not worth it. Save the money for a good set of components for the front.

You can ask your passengers to take turns sitting in the front passenger seat to admire your setup

JonKlsn

About the cargo tray, yea, it will fit just fine. I have a 03 with the spare tire sub and the cargo tray came with the car, no rattle, no problems.

wdr70

I'm confused after reading the previous posts about the size of the rear door speakers on an '03 P5. Some posts mention 5 1/4", but I thought I read in the protegeclub reference post that the stock speakers are 6" (although 6.5"ers would fit with trimming of the rain guard). So, what is the real stock size?

Whichever size they are I am looking for some advice about replacements. I have already replaced the front tweeters with MB Quart RTE 20's and the 6x8"s with MB Quart DKE 168's. These improved the high and mid-range clarity hugely (it no longer sounds like I'm listening to tunes underwater!). But now there's a real lack of bass response. I'm not looking for booming, powerful bass like from a huge subwoofer, but rather just crisp and clear bass. I've seen "mid-bass" and "mid-bass add-ons" listed on websites, but I don't really know what these are. Can anyone help explain?

Poseur

Wdr...
to answer your question on size, prettymuch either will work. I personally just installed my infinity Refrence 6002i 6.5's and they fit just fine. I found that the door panel has a "ring" of sorts that protrudes back to the edge of the stock speaker, however, and this lines up with the "plus one +" surround on my infinity's I don't know for sure that it would contact, but I filed it back about 1cm just to be sure.
As far as actual mount holes, the stock 6" uses that 3 bolt pattern, and I ended up just drilling a couple mount holes. but, for the record, from what I hear absolutely nothing will lineup to the stock holes anyway.

As far as midbass, that's essentially what the 6.5" driver is. If your car is lacking "punch" I'd say taht you'd really benefit from power, and either an EQ of sorts or possibly a tweeter attenuator. those ti domes tweets are a bit harsh for me usually. One of my favorite set of components ever were some older kenwood dual-mags. the crossovers that came with these had t extra tweeter outputs that were -2 or -4 db. I wind up using the crossovers all the time. I feel midrange (where the real sould of music is) is always forgotten in the need for getting clean highs and boom boom. One option you may consider is to just get a 6.5" midbass (essentially it would be just the large speaker part of a component system) for your rear doors, and run it crossedover to play a lower-middle (say 80-1000hz) range. Alot of everything really depends on how you power the speakers and the crossover options that are available to you. Either way, you'll definately need a "cap" to keep out the highs that you don't want. If you don't run any form of subwoofer then leave it open on the low end. And if you don't have an amp, get one. even a small low-powered one will give you alot more clarity and power than whatever deck you've got.

wdr70

Poseur,
Thanks, for the reply. I'm not totally up on all the lingo you were throwing my way, but I think I can "translate" most of it.

I was thinking about the 6.5" mid-bass's and no subwoofer (I don't think I really need one for my musical tastes). I kind of assumed I would need an amp to drive the 6.5"s (and I'm sure it would help get more out of my component tweeters and coaxials in the front doors). I've been eyeing one with 4x50W rms output. Would that be enough power for the typical mid-bass driver? This same amp is switchable to 2 and 3-channel output at higher power outputs also.

I think your suggestion for crossover frequencies sounds like what I'm looking for. When you talk about "caps" to keep the highs out, what does that mean? I understand the concept of low-pass and high-pass filters.

Also, what is a "tweeter attenuator"? My component tweeters come with crossovers. Is this the same as an attenuator?

I'm also still unclear about the terminology of mid-bass driver versus mid-bass add-on that I've seen on some audio websites. Can anyone clarify?

Poseur

Sorry to confuse, I'm always unsure and just don't want to insult anyone. The 6.5" mid-bass speakers essentially the same as the 6.5" coaxial speakers that are in anything, only they lack tweeters. (coaxial meaning shared axis as in there's more than one speaker element combined) If you look at high end speakers and see "components" listed they usually include a 6.5" midbass and a 1" tweeter with a crossover with these generally the tweeter is mounted seperately.

4x50 rms is a perfect amp size for what you're looking for. as far as "cap" I'm speaking of a capacitor that's designed to block out any higer frequencies. the term cap just makes it simple too because you can think of it as "capping off" the higer frequency notes. It's basically a low-pass filter only in this case it would be set at a higher than subwoofer frequency.

My suggestion to you would be to get a 4x50 amp (take a look at the eclipse, they make really good clean sound for not too much $) then I'd almost just buy a 6.5" component set and then set the tweeters aside and only run the midbass speaker. When setting it up, don't use any of the high or low passes on the amp, and run the rear 6.5's through the crossovers that come with the component set. this will generally be around 4000hz and they will also play anything lower than that. My previous suggestion about the 80hz high-pass only applies if you have a subwoofer for playing lower than 80. If you were to hook up the tweeters too they would play the higher end of the spectrum from 4000hz up, but you'll likely not need this, and additionally thatmuch power to highs behind your head makes everything sound echoey....

Hope this helps a bit, I'll try to check back if you've still got q's

wdr70

Poseur,
Thanks, again. I think what I am seeing referred to as mid-bass "add-ons" are the woofer by itself without the tweeter. I can imagine you are correct about not needing additional high's coming from behind me. I've got enough coming from me front doors.

I'll take a look at the Eclipse amp. Where do you have your amp mounted, by the way? I'd rather not take up any space in the hatch.

Poseur

Yes, that's what I was trying to get at... Sorry, yea, midbass drivers are simply a part of what's sold in the component sets. THe problem with this is that they're more expensive that way, and by the time you get crossovers, you're likely better off just getting a pair of components and leaving the tweets off. plus thatway you've got an extra set if you ever feel like trading, etc. I've prettymuch always run my car like this, but I had a friend practiacally give me a pair of refrence 6.5" coaxes, and with the tweeters being blocked by the seatbacks fro the front I figured it'd be alright.

As for amp mounting, There's PLENTY of room under either seat. Just have to leave room for the rear-seat vents. I did this by essentially building a "shelf" upon which my amps sit. This leaves room for airflow to the rear-footwell (you only need like an inch) I mounted my sub amp under the driver's seat, and my component amp under the passenger seat (my reasoning is that my sub amp is a class-D which runs a bit cooler) Should you have problems with excessive heat (I really doubt you would, but if you did...) you can mount a 12v fan hooked up to a relay to turn on with your amp.

Roddimus Prime

Man, this is a great thread here! This is what car forums are all about!!

I currently have an 03.5 P5 with the 6-disk system. It sounds good, but I do need more punch. I was looking into the mid-bass driver only for the rear doors, but would greatly prefer the 6.5" as opposed to the 6" driver.

I also have a rockford fosgate 50X4 that I was planning on using for this. I'm not electrically fluent at all. Failed electrical systems on my ASE twice. After that I figured my local stereo shop would do a better job than I would! Can you recommend a good speaker to put in the rear? One that would not require much cutting. Stereo shops charge more for "custom work"!